Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
I raise my eyebrow and reach over to push down her menu so she’ll be forced to look at me.
“What kind of ‘something’?” I ask her pointedly.
“These guys showed up at his garage,” she finally says. “He owes their boss some money. I didn’t know, and now we’re fighting.”
I nod and pull out my phone, texting Rafe to look into it. I can’t have her dragging this kind of worry into work. At least, that’s the lie I tell myself. The truth is, I just want to do whatever I can to lighten her load.
An hour later, when we’re back at work, Rafe texts that her father, Marco, owes money to a low-level loan shark named Giancarlo Andante. A lot of fucking money, thanks to a predatory loan. No wonder Sofia is so upset. Worse, Andante washes money for Enzo Calderone. What the hell are the odds?
I call him immediately. “We need to take care of this,” I tell him. “I can’t have my assistant’s father owing Calderone money.”
“I’ve got a few channels I can utilize,” he tells me. “Are you really going to pay off that amount, though? I know you like her, but goddamn, Dom. That’s a lot of fucking money.”
“She’s worth it,” I answer in a clipped voice. “And we don’t need Calderone figuring out the connection. You know he’d just use it to exploit me for money anyway. I’m getting rid of that possibility.”
“All right.” He sighs. “Send me the money and I’ll get it handled.”
I don’t hesitate for a second, even though I know this crosses every professional boundary I’ve ever set. Which is confirmed when Sofia bursts into my office an hour after she should’ve gone home.
“What the hell did you do?” she demands.
I lean back in my chair and watch her carefully. “You had a problem and I handled it,” I tell her honestly.
She shakes her head sharply. “I didn’t ask you to do that,” she says through clenched teeth.
“You didn’t have to,” I say lightly. “I could see that you needed help so I helped.”
“Without my consent,” she huffs. “And I want to be very clear about what this is. What do you want in return for buying out my father’s debt?”
I stare at her blankly. “In return?” I ask, confused.
“Yes,” she answers firmly. “Men like you always expect something in return. Is this hush money for not bringing up what happened with Mr. Armand? Are you trying to buy my loyalty to you?”
“It’s not like that,” I try to argue, but she’s too angry to hear anything.
“It’s always like that,” she says. “Men like you think money can solve everything. And you dug into my father’s personal business. Who the hell does that?”
“Sofia—”
“He’s furious,” she continues. “He’s embarrassed that I got my boss involved, and furious because he thinks you’re some kind of shady creep that I know owe.”
“Those men would’ve broken his legs if they’d had a chance,” I manage to get in. “That’s who you should be angry at.”
“I am angry at them! And I’m angry at you. You don’t get to throw money at my problems—”
“I paid a debt,” I tell her. “I didn’t buy your life.”
Her face goes pale with fury. I’ve said the wrong thing.
“Are you sure about that?” she asks. “Because I can never, ever, pay you back that money.”
I watch her carefully for a moment before I respond.
“It was a gift,” I say softly. “I don’t expect you to pay it back.”
“You shouldn’t be giving me gifts like that,” she accuses. “You’re my boss, Dominic. You shouldn’t have gotten involved in my personal life. It isn’t your job to take care of me.”
I finally stand, irritation forcing me to my feet.
“You’re so goddamn stubborn, Sofia,” I say. “Don’t pretend you haven’t been running yourself ragged to pay your father’s debt. It’s why you took this job, isn’t it? It’s why you didn’t argue about the bonus I gave you. Suddenly it’s a problem because I did something about it?”
She lets out a frustrated squeal. “You aren’t even listening to me!”
“And you aren’t listening to me,” I shoot back. “Why the hell are we even fighting about this?”
“Because you’re my boss,” she says quietly. “It wasn’t your place to do this.”
I nod sarcastically as I approach her. “Whose place is it, then?”
She looks up at me when I’m just inches from her and swallows hard.
“I don’t know,” she finally admits, all the fire gone from her voice. “A boyfriend? A partner?”
“Do you have one of those?” I ask her darkly.
I don’t miss the way her eyes dart to my lips or the way she licks her own.
“No,” she finally admits.
Good.
“Then who else is going to take care of you?”
She closes the space between us, and I reach for her right back. My hands find her waist and hers wrap around my neck the moment our lips meet. There’s all the heat from our fight in it, but something else underneath, too. An unspoken agreement that this is where we’ve always been headed, maybe. A want that’s finally getting answered.